Many of you follow me on Twitter and know that I think Twitter (and facebook also) can be a great way for artists to come together to share ideas, get inspired and sometimes just hang out with other photographers. I have met some great people on Twitter over the last year and hope to meet everyone someday in person. There are so many “top photographers to follow on twitter” listings out there. Many sites will give you a top 100 list of people to follow and I have to admit some of these lists are fairly useful I always go through them and find a few new good people to follow. But a lot of the lists I have to disagree with how they make their rankings. There are a few issues I have with most of these lists, one being that most of them are all about the numbers. After being on Twitter for about a year and seeing many “make money online” cheesy twitters that have 50,000 followers I have finally realized that numbers really don’t matter. I guess they do account for something but when it comes to high numbers = expert in the field I would have to disagree with that. Another problem with most of these lists are the top Twitters are totally one sided. They might have 10,000 followers but only follow 50 people and never reply to any tweets. Twitter is a form of social media… SOCIAL, to me that means 
interacting with each other. And honestly for me that is one of the best parts of social media. I try to reply to every tweet sent to me and have really met some cool people on twitter. Its a great way to connect with other people that share your passion and a very good source of information. Whenever I have a question on something i’ll throw out a tweet and always get some responses.
So for my top list of photographers to follow on Twitter I have a totally different set of rules. They have to not only be great photographers, have some good insight into the industry to provide but also participate in the conversation going on instead of just shouting into the air. A few of these people I have been able to meet over the past year and hopefully can meet up with everyone else on this list within the next year. I wanted to create a list of REAL people that have REAL passions about the photography industry and that will always be passionate about this industry. I encourage you to check them out, they are a great source of info and inspiration.
If you are on twitter go and check these guys (and gals) out if you don’t already. You won’t be disappointed. And remember if you ever have a photo question (or any question, I am also an expert diaper changer, coffee drinker, bocce player and all around lover of life) then hit me up on Twitter.
And remember Twitter and Facebook are social media, so lets chat, encourage each other and be social.
If you want to check me out on twitter follow us @digitalphotobuz (yes only 1 z twitter has a max on username characters)
I really like your article and you have some good points about the nature of Twitter being a Social Site. I have been paying attention to many of the great photographers you listed, perhaps in a few years, I might end up on your list as well 😉
Kind Regards, Erik
Some of my work is here wp.me/p11Vpv-6R
Hi
Excellent article, thanks for sharing. I agree that the nature of Twitter is Social and that makes it all the more instructive when being able to interact with photographers of high caliber openly. I follow several of your listed greats and have learned many things that I apply now.
regards, Erik
Some of my “Not so Great” work here wp.me/p11Vpv-6R
My favorite on that whole list is @photojack he’s AWESOME, especially if you are the new kid on the block trying to get your bearings. There isn’t anything he’s posted that I haven’t learned from!
@photojack rules. Every photographer needs to be subscribed to his blog. @picseshu and @roshsillars also have great blogs that have inspired me as well as informed me. Both matters…emotion and logic.
These 3 are really interactive and conversational with me. Good list overall.
Nice post!
Mark,
I’m honored truly. I’ve never been very mathy-mathy and have always embraced connecting over counting followers. Your list has several of my very favorite photographers. Thank you so much for including me.
@fleurdeleigh
Who likes Math, boo 🙂 Thanks Leigh for keeping it real on twitter, we need more people like you
The world is not on;y the USA !!!
Twitter is all over the world. Open your mind.
Check ALL the world instead of just saying that something is TOP for the whole world
THis list it is only inside ONE country
Wow! Thanks Mark! I’m honored to be included in your list.
I totally agree that Twitter, and all Social Media should be about conversation, and not just a one-way stream of information. However useful or interesting someone’s tweets are, it doesn’t feel good to reach out to someone that never replies.
I also hope to get a chance to meet up in this coming year Mark. I have lots of travel plans about to be announced, so I think we should be able to make that happen.
All the best!
Martin.
Would love to hear any other suggestions you have. These are people that I see active on Twitter with great information and are engaging people. I don’t filter by location just who I think adds the most value to Twitter. If you think there are some great people from outside of this list let me know